Barack for Beamish

When Dylan was a baby, I wrote in his baby book about war – a war I didn’t want to be a part of his life. Today Dylan is a freshman at the University of Maryland – just. Classes have not started. I moved him in two days ago.

Tonight, Barack Obama is accepting the nomination for President of the United States. In my lifetime, this is a hallmark moment. A man of color is nominated. AND his biggest challenge was overcoming a woman, Hillary Clinton, for the nomination.

But Dylan does not think of this as a hallmark moment. He recognizes it never happened before. But so much that has happened in his life, in his friends’ lives never happened before. This young generation only knows a few things and one is that change is constant – not inevitable – but desirable. It’s called evolution. For Dylan, this is not momentous. Of course, a black man can be President. Of course, a woman could be President. Dylan and his generation do not see the barriers that his parent’s witnessed. This is their world.

I watch this moment. It matters to me on some level. Maybe because I came from an unconventional home. Maybe because my pedigree is not what I think is acceptable for the President of the United States. Maybe it is because despite my meager financial beginnings, my mother never stopped telling me that I could be whatever I dreamed. And she was right.

I have taken a long time with my dreams. Dylan has been on the fast track. We spent many an hour looking at politics, looking at life, at opportunity, at folly, at joy, at education, at love. This is another dream that I held in my life, to commune with my children, to love them, and share their lives on a daily basis.

So this time is odd for me: I watch this moment in my living room and my children are elsewhere – living their lives, strong, independent, happy, healthy, and safe. As I listen to Barack, I think he may be the President of their lives. It is possible that he is the leader for their lives, for change. They are accustomed to it.